iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alt18F

Matt Henry 🥄 @matthenry.fyi · 15/09/2026

The US Web Design System is load-bearing infrastructure for thousands of government websites. It makes it easy for small teams with no resources (i.e. most .gov teams) to make usable, accessible websites that work for everyone. Today, it's as close as it's ever been to being replaced with AI slop.

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Reposted by Alt18F

Anne Petersen @apetersen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

*quietly* Out today: USWDS 3.14.0. github.com/uswds/uswds/... The USWDS open source community and scarce part-time staff are _incredible_, just sayin’.

github.com

Releases · uswds/uswds

The U.S. Web Design System helps the federal government build fast, accessible, mobile-friendly websites. - uswds/uswds

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

"Even as headlines portray a Social Security Administration struggling to recover from DOGE-era cuts, the administration is filling our inboxes with the claim that things are better than ever. The broader picture is that the legal institutions meant to police political corruption... are failing us."

donmoynihan.substack.com

The Federal Government is Emailing You Campaign Literature – Can Anyone Stop It?

Is it legal for Social Security to send you partisan propaganda? In theory, no…

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

"A 2025 report from minority staff on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations estimated $21.7 billion in waste by DOGE during the first six months of its existence. Vought told Pocan he didn’t know how much was spent on DOGE workers ... ."

fedscoop.com

No plans for a DOGE after-action report, Russell Vought says

The OMB director essentially acknowledged DOGE’s phase-out and told House lawmakers he could provide an “assessment” of the Elon Musk group’s work if needed.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

"Most of the few dozen websites [National Design Studio] has launched consist of a single page, where visitors can do little more than fill out a sign-up form."

arstechnica.com

Trump's plan to redesign every .gov website leads to AI-designed horrors

A year in, National Design Studio delays plan to update government web standards.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

“It will have a chilling effect on federal employees engaging in whistleblowing activity. If they do not want to sign this nondisclosure agreement, not only would they be removed for failure to follow instructions on signing a document, but they’re .. going to be debarred from federal service ... ."

federalnewsnetwork.com

Trump administration expands options for firing federal employees deemed ‘unsuitable’ | Federal News Network

A final rule from OPM will require agencies to consider additional factors when determining whether federal employees should remain in their jobs.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

"Schofield said he is speaking publicly for the first time because he believes Americans need to understand how government data can be misused and, in some cases, already has been." Another courageous act from a civil servant choosing to honor their oath.

washingtonpost.com

Trump officials planned to mark 2.7 million living people as dead, whistleblower claims

A former Social Security executive said the plan, which was not carried out, would have used a death database to pressure immigrants to leave the country.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

"It is not a contract between equals. It is a loyalty oath, enforced with the full weight of federal prosecutorial power, demanded of people who already swore a different oath — to the Constitution."

donmoynihan.substack.com

Trump wants all federal employees to sign NDAs

A breathtaking expansion of the culture of governmental secrecy

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

"The app includes videos and messaging that are overtly political or directly related to campaigns, the type of material with which employees are typically discouraged from engaging while on the clock due to the non-partisan nature of their work."

govexec.com

The White House is ordering agencies to place its new app on all employees’ government phones

The newly created, often overtly political app places the Trump administration into unprecedented and “dangerous” territory, IT experts say.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

We've been doing a little tidying up at 18f.org—a good opportunity to remind folks that the 18F guides and blog are archived on the site for anyone to use. After all, they belong to you!

18f.org

18F: We’re dedicated to the American public. And we’re not done yet.

For over 11 years, non-partisan civil servants at 18F proudly served the American people to make government technology work better.

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Reposted by Alt18F

Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 15/05/2026

I'm not generally in the habit of posting links to LinkedIn here, but I've got to recommend @randyhart.bsky.social's long, important piece about the problems of government software projects that are compelled to optimize for the status quo, and thus fail. I wish I'd written this.

linkedin.com

When Procurement Optimizes for the Status Quo

A few months ago, I did a quick scan of the solicitation for California's CalHEERS system. CalHEERS is the state's healthcare eligibility, enrollment, and retention system, the technology backbone tha...

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Until next time, Chicago! #cfasummit was an opportunity for catching up with old friends and kicking around new ideas —we’ve got some good conversations started, and we’re not done yet.

A Code for America Summit conference lanyard with U.S. flag and 18F alumni pins. Chicago’s “Cloud Gate” sculpture is in the background.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

"'... DOGE ... literally just wanted to shut everything off. I kind of describe them as like children playing in a toy spaceship pressing the buttons.'"

wired.com

USAID Whistleblower Says It Was Even Worse Than People Knew

Political appointees wanted a quiet drawdown, the whistleblower says. DOGE wanted an execution.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

"'And then we put out a call to our workforce to say, ‘Hey, you’re kind of mid-career talent. Would you be interested in doing a second job, in addition to your day job?’ Not a second paid job, but you’ll be part of this programming.'" ............

federalnewsnetwork.com

GSA looks to automate a million work hours, after losing nearly 40% of its workforce | Federal News Network

GSA is nearly halfway to its goal, and began this work internally. But its deputy administrator said the project could expand outside GSA if deemed successful.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

"[The administration's characterization of Direct File] has it completely backwards. It is a calculation that only makes sense if you do not value the time and money of citizens, but regard the government doing anything to help the public as a burden."

donmoynihan.substack.com

What the death of Direct File tells us about state capacity

We CAN have nice things - if we want them

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Reposted by Alt18F

Merici @merici.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

It’s tax season and Direct File is dead. I went on the Killswitch podcast with @dexdigi.bsky.social to talk about what we built, who killed it, and why I’m certain it’ll make a comeback.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

“Agency relocations do not create more effective or efficient government. ... These relocations do not bring our government closer to the people it serves. In fact, nearly 87% of the federal workforce is already working nationwide outside of Washington, D.C."

ourpublicservice.org

Partnership for Public Service statement on relocation of U.S. Forest Service headquarters

A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working towards effective government for the American people.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

“'What I told [the DOGE team] was that these are the procedures in place that we normally follow. ... They said that there was no need to follow the procedures, and if there was litigation, which has since occurred, this would be addressed in the litigation.'”

govexec.com

Inside DOGE’s early days of pressure campaigns, rule breaking and ‘chaos’

Twenty-three hours of court testimony offer a rare glimpse into the Trump cost-cutting group that officials say “felt more like a club” than the agencies they were breaking.

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Reposted by Alt18F

Al Shaw @shaw.al · 05/03/2026

NEW: Over the past year, we've been collecting thousands of financial disclosure documents from across the Trump administration. Now we're making them searchable. Look up names, assets, former employers across 1,500+ Trump appointees and 3,000+ ethics documents.

projects.propublica.org

Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees - ProPublica

Use this database to explore potential conflicts of interest for President Donald Trump and his team. The documents disclose positions officials have held outside government, their assets and their de...

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

It’s been one year since the elimination of 18F. 🧵

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

“'There’s an animated GIF of Joe Gebbia throwing a punch at the camera. What is that about, in [relation] to governance and serving the American people? I don’t know what that has to do with me as a taxpayer that’s funding this team.'”

nextgov.com

New White House design team aims for ‘delightful’ websites — changing design ethos in the process

Trump’s chief design officer says that his work shouldn’t be controversial, but his team’s track record has raised questions about who their websites are for, who they leave out and whether the White ...

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Though this hasn't received much news coverage, we're sharing in case our community is interested in reading the report in full. Link in 🧵.

Cover page of a report. Text reads, "Breaking Government: How DOGE and Trump Cost Taxpayers, Federal Workers, and Public Services. Interim Staff Analysis. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. U.S. House of Representatives. February 12, 2026. oversightdemocrats.house.gov"

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

"During his time at GSA, [outgoing director Thomas Shedd] has overseen layoffs across TTS, including shuttering 18F ... . ... experts raised questions about ethics and conflicts of interest regarding his employment setup, as he’s on a leave of absence from Tesla while working for the government."

nextgov.com

Federal CIO tapped for dual-hatted role at GSA

Greg Barbaccia will serve as the acting Technology Transformation Services director and senior advisor to the administrator at GSA, while its previous lead, Thomas Shedd, will remain with the agency i...

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Reposted by Alt18F

Jacob Harris @jacobharr.is · 13/02/2026

More than a year after its formation, I continue to track DOGE's activities and try to shed light on their staffing based on what limited information I can find. dogetrack.info

dogetrack.info

DOGE Track

An automatically-generated and frequently updated site for presenting data on DOGE’s rampage across government, designed to work on large screens and mobile phones.

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Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

"I think the administration knows that employees will appeal if given the opportunity to do so, and that some of those appeals are justifiable, so they are trying to lessen the number of successful appeals and the ability for employees to fight these actions.”

govexec.com

OPM seeks to consolidate power over employee appeals in new regulations

Under a pair of regulatory proposals published this week, the federal government’s dedicated HR agency seeks to wrest appeals of suitability and reduction in force decisions from the Merit Systems Pro...

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Reposted by Alt18F

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

New, from me: Trump finalized his Schedule F policy, allowing him to remove job protections from career civil servants. The new rule is dishonest and unmoored from reality in its effort to formalize the politicization of the federal government 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/trumps-sch...

donmoynihan.substack.com

Trump's Schedule F Rule Finalized

A bizarro rule formally justifies politicizing public services

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Reposted by Alt18F

John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 31/01/2026

A manual for ICE's immigrant-targeting computer system, Palantir ELITE, was leaked today. Let's look at it, then step back to evaluate how far we've come along a dangerous road and where that road might take us. 🧵

404media.co

Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE

404 Media is publishing a version of the user guide for ELITE, which lets ICE bring up dossiers on individual people and provides a “confidence score” of their address.

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Reposted by Alt18F

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

New, from me: A year in, did DOGE deliver on its promises? Not the promises it made to us (cut spending, modernize government, improve services). It worsened state capacity. But it was part of a successful broligarchy exercise in state capture. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-year-on-...

donmoynihan.substack.com

A Year On: The DOGE Disaster

A Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly of your government

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